Always (NejiTen)

Always

     "No! Please! N-neji please don't leave me!" The brunette breathed shakily with tears streaming out if her eyes. Tenten pounded her fists gently on Neji's chest. Her pale eyed friend/teammate/lover's heartbeat was slowing and blood gushed out of the wound in his side.

He started to unwrap the bandages on his arm. "W-what are you doing?" Tenten asked tearfully.

"Do you remember what I told you when we just became a team and we were guarding the wall? It's time."

Tenten looked at him and nodded, "At last," she said knowingly.

     Neji took her hand in his and spoke, "I-I'm sorry Tenten. It is what destiny has bestowed upon me. Finally I am free and can rest. J-just remember that I love y-..."

   "No!" she screamed as Neji took his last breath and his shaking body stood still.

                                ~•~

     The morning sun was shining through her window. Tenten woke up as the he bright rays touched her face. She got out of bed and dragged herself over to the mirror. Her brown hair hung down at her shoulders, framing her too pale face and hollow eyes.

     It had been almost a month since he passed. She still has never gotten over it. Some days were better than others, but there was still the blinding pain of waking up every day knowing that she'll never see him again. She's barely eaten or left her home, not listening to any of her friends attempts to cheer her up.

                                  ~•~

Tenten's P.O.V - One year ago

     The rouge shinobi chuckled. "I don't know there little girl, I wanted to make you're death quick, but now I think I might play with you for a bit. What do you think?"

     I shivered in the thought of what he might do to me. I was caught in some sort of paralysis jutsu, rendering me useless. I don't knew what I was thinking when I thought I could take them by myself. I hadn't even alerted the village before taking off. How stupid of me. Now I'll be dead because of it.

     My teammates, Kiba, Lee, Hinata, maybe even that stuck up jerk Neji. I will miss them all. I could feel the jutsu on my limbs start to loosen. I weakly tried throwing a kunai knife at the attacker. He dodged it without even batting an eye. Damn, for a weapons mistress I seem pretty useless.

      The rouge shinobi kicked me in the stomach and I flew back into a tree, my chakra supply completely used up.

     "That was for attacking me," he whispered into my ear. I squeezed my eyes shut and a tear rolled down my cheek. The gravity of the situation dawned on me. Tears were now pouring out of my eyes at a shocking rate.

     "Sweet dreams little girl," he practically purred as earth started to cover my feet and was rising fast. The earth hardened quickly after it set, slowly compacting itself to the point where it would eventually crush my bones and suffocate me. I took my last breath as the dirt covered my face and head.

    "Hey! Who the hell are you?" I heard the rouge shinobi snarled.

     I heard some arguing and a bunch of loud thumps and crashes through the earth incasing my head. The earth crumbled away and I collapsed forward, coughing.

     "Tenten. Are you alright?" I heard a voice say.

     I looked up at my mysterious rescuer and my eyes widened in surprise. No way. The person who rescued me...was none other than the renowned genius Neji Hyuga?

                                      ~•~

      Tenten pulled a brush through her wavy hair and decided to leave it down. Neji had always preferred her hair down. She rarely ever wore her signature twin buns anymore. Her left arm was wrapped in bandages. It was a reminder of what could have been. Sighing, she walked to her weapon storage room. Grabbing a handful of kunai, she flung them one by one at a nearby wooden post. All of them hit either too high or too low and then fell to the ground. Before, she was Tenten Mitashi, Konoha's number one weapons mistress, known to be able to hit every target with any weapon. Now, she had been reduced to just a pathetic little girl who can't throw a kunai for her life. Is this what you've done to me, Neji?? Tenten thought.
Tenten threw all her scrolls to the ground and screamed in the air.
"CURSE YOU DAMN HYUGA! I HATE YOU! YOU WERE MY BEST FRIEND, MY LOVER! THEN YOU GO AND DIE!"
By now tears were streaming down her face and her cheeks were red. She took a deep breath and let her anger melt away, leaving just sadness.
        She dropped to her knees to gather the scrolls off of the floor. Tenten saw one of her oldest scrolls roll away from her. It was the one that Guy- Sensei had gifted to her on their first week of training. Smiling at it, she reached over and plucked it off of the floor. A slip of paper fell out from the bottom of the scroll and drifted down to the floor. Tenten scooped it up and stared at it intently. I was a little doodle of her and her new-formed team on that first week of training. Who knew why it was still in the scroll, but it was. A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth and she tucked it back in behind one of the old, dull, kunai, and wrapped the scroll back up.
          Soon, Tenten had picked up all of the scattered scrolls and placed them neatly on the table according to size. Except she tucked the scroll with the drawing in it into a place on her belt, next to her current scroll, so she could have it with her.
         Given some incentive for the day, Tenten walked into her bedroom and pulled on her usual training attire, instead of her tank top and sweatpants. She planned to go into town today.